Miami's Best Eats and Drinks This Weekend: Cuban Sandwiches, Feast With Beasts, and Keys Beer

Miami's perfect winter weather means that event season is in full swing. Even though the South Beach Wine & Food Festival is behind us for another year, you can still spend your entire weekend drinking wine, eating delicious food, and hanging with friends.

This weekend, canoodle with a wild thing, celebrate like you're in the South of France, find the best Cuban sandwich, relive SOBEWFF with Geoffrey Zakarian, and enjoy a beer-pairing dinner on the beach in the Florida Keys.

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Islamorada Beer-Pairing Dinner If you're looking for a staycation, take a quick weekend trip to Islamorada for the Brews on the Beach pairing dinner at Amara Cay Resort (80001 Overseas Hwy., Islamorada). Tonight, March 4, at 7 p.m., Oltremare restaurant teams up with Islamorada Beer Company for a dinner right on the sand. A four-course Italian menu will be paired with a different 12-ounce beer — including a No Wake Zone coconut key lime ale, available only at the brewhouse. Tickets cost $59 (excluding tax and gratuity), and each guests takes home an Islamorada Beer Company pint glass. Reservations are suggested and can be made by calling 305-664-0073, ext. 7022.

Photo by Monica McGivern

Feast With the Beasts In nature, humans and beasts don't usually dine together unless one of them is the main course. The tables are turned at tonight's Feast With the Beasts at Zoo Miami. From 8 p.m. to midnight, enjoy delectable food from restaurants such as Pisco y Nazca, Vintro Kitchen, and Kitchen 305, enjoy live music, an open bar, a silent auction, and meet-and-greets with some of the zoo's resident beasts. Tickets cost $250 for general admission and $500 for VIP, which includes admission at 7 p.m., access to the VIP lounge, and a meet-and-greet with the zoo's Ron Magill and his animal friends. Visit zoomiami.org for information and tickets.

La Nuit en Rose

La Nuit en Rosé Nothing in the world makes you feel as elegant as sipping a glass of fine rosé at a swanky garden party (or out of a plastic cup in your backyard). Celebrate in grand style at La Nuit en Rosé. All weekend, the Mondrian South Beach will host a series of events poolside. Tonight, March 4, start with a rosé wine-pairing dinner. Saturday, March 5, enjoy a sunset celebration with a glass in hand at the Rosé Sunset Party, and spend the afternoon in rose-colored bliss at the Sunday Afternoon Rosé Brunch. Tickets cost $85 to $250. Visit nuitrose.com to purchase tickets and for more information.

Cuban Sandwich Festival This weekend, celebrate Miami's most cherished sangwich — the Cuban. Saturday, March 5, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sergio's Restaurant (1640 NW 87th Ave., Doral) will host a family-friendly event where you can chow down on sandwiches from a number of Miami restaurants. The big event is the Cuban Sandwich Smackdown, where local luminaries such as chef Doug Rodriguez, Hallandale Beach Vice-Mayor Bill Julian, and Univision 23 news anchor Jorge Hernandez will vote for the best cubano. Admission is free, and the event benefits Emberlynn Padilla, a 5-year-old who was born with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Visit thecubansandwichfestival.com for more information.

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The broadcast airs Saturday, March 5, at 5 p.m. and Sunday, March 6, at 10 p.m. on SiriusXM's Stars 109 channel.

Laine Doss is the food and spirits editor for Miami New Times, has been featured on Cooking Channel's Eat Street and Food Network's Great Food Truck Race. She won an Alternative Weekly award for her feature about what it's like to wait tables.